Red Dog Mine and the community of Noatak in Northwest Alaska are soon expected to be a part of GCI’s TERRA broadband network. GCI made the announcement late last week, about a month after sharing plans to expand TERRA to ten communities in Norton Sound and the Northwest Arctic Borough.

GCI TERRA 2016-2017 Expansion. Reposted with permission from GCI.

Red Dog Mine, owned by Teck Red Dog Operations, is one of the largest zinc mines in the world. GCI’s Director of Corporate Communications, Heather Handyside, says the mine will serve as what’s called an “anchor tenant” for other communities. “Anchor tenants are what really makes it financially possible to bring services to communities,” she said. “Sometimes, communities are so small and the construction costs are so high, it’s hard to realize any business profit, but when we have an anchor tenant, we know we’ll have a contract for a long amount of time. We’ll have a steady stream of income from that contract, then we know that we can make the investment and provide more of a service to surrounding communities.”

Hospitals and schools will also serve as anchor tenants for the ten other communities expected to receive GCI’s broadband internet by the end of this year.

GCI anticipates the expansion to Red Dog Mine and Noatak to be completed in 2017.

The Northwest Arctic Borough’s largest private employer and source of revenue is suing the borough over a recent hike in taxes. Teck Alaska, the operator of Red Dog Mine, filed the legal complaint last Friday, noting the tax increase could put jobs and economic activity in the region at risk.

Red Dog is the world’s second largest producer of zinc, situated 80 miles north of Kotzebue and 50 miles inland from the Chukchi Sea.

Teck has been the mine’s operator since it opened in 1989, and Wayne Hall, the mine’s Manager of Community and Public Relations, said it’s been profitable, not just for the mine but for the borough as well.

“It’s truly an Alaskan success story,” Hall explained. “The mine has created enormous benefit for the region, including hundreds of millions in funding for schools and other services, as well over 700 well-paying jobs.”

The hundreds of millions that have helped fund schools and other services for the borough have come from what’s called a Payment in Lieu of Taxes, or PILT agreement. Teck has negotiated a PILT agreement with the Northwest Arctic Borough for the past 25 years.

The last time a new PILT was negotiated was 5 years ago, when the borough doubled it, resulting in an average annual payment from Teck of $11.5 million. The new severance tax could nearly triple that, putting Teck on the line for an estimated $30-40 million each year. Hall said that could put the mine and the borough in jeopardy.

“The fact is this tax increase will make Red Dog less competitive and create uncertainty around the longevity of the mine,” Hall warned, “potentially affecting the jobs and the economic opportunity it creates.”

According to the mine’s website, Red Dog has historically provided the Northwest Arctic Borough with up to 80 percent of its revenue. It also directly employs over 600 people onsite, with an annual payroll of $75 million.

Along with direct impacts, Hall also warned that the tax hike could have a ripple effect in the region.

Hall used the example of the air carrier services that bring in employees from all eleven communities in the region, on at least three flights each week.

Those air carrier services, along with other mine-related services, create more than 100 additional jobs for the region. So with so much at stake for the both the mine and the borough, why the sudden surge in taxes imposed by the borough?

Calls to the Northwest Arctic Borough mayor’s office were not returned as of Monday afternoon, though the borough’s regional corporation was willing to comment.

NANA owns the land the mine operates on, and many of its shareholders work at Red Dog. Liz Cravalho is NANA’s director of community and government affairs, and she says what they’re most concerned about are their shareholders, including their jobs, their dividends, and future exploration in the region.

Cravalho says NANA is working to bring both parties to the table to renegotiate a payment agreement, something Hall would like to see as well.

“We’ve really initiated this legal complaint very reluctantly,” Hall explained. He said it wasn’t something Teck wanted to do.

“Unfortunately, by refusing to engage in good faith negotiations to achieve a reasonable payment agreement, the borough has left us with few options,” Hall said, “and our goal of this action is to get the borough to come to the table and work with us to negotiate a new and reasonable payment agreement.”

Through the legal complaint, Teck is seeking an injunction of the severance tax and meeting with the Northwest Arctic Borough.

A proposed mining road through interior Alaska that was shelved amid the state’s multi-billion dollar budget crisis has been authorized by the administration of Gov. Bill Walker to spend more than $3 million to start an environmental assessment.

In December, Walker issued an administrative order freezing six of the state’s biggest projects—including the Susitna Dam and the Knik Arm Bridge. Among them was the Ambler Mining Road—a proposed 200-mile industrial corridor connecting the Dalton Highway north of Fairbanks to multiple deposits of copper, zinc, and gold near the northwest communities of Ambler and Kobuk.

Walker’s order halted any new spending on the projects—but an October memo from Pat Pitney, the director of the state’s Office of Management and Budget, shakes loose $3.6 million previously set aside for the Ambler Road’s environmental impact statement, or EIS.

“The choice for an administration is, potentially, turn the tap on or turn the tap off, but they can’t move money around for other purposes,” explained Marcia Davis, Walker’s deputy chief of staff. She said the $3.6 million comes from a $12 million pot of money lawmakers set aside under former governor Sean Parnell. What remains of that money is $8.1 million, from which the $3.6 million is drawn. Pitney’s memo stated as much as $6.8 million could be required to complete the EIS, overshooting the available funds by $2.3 million.

Despite a multi-billion dollar state deficit, Davis said the money can only be spent on the Ambler Road EIS due to the past appropriation; only the legislature could divert the funds elsewhere. She said the governor released the funds now due to what she called strong support for the project.

“We got such strong advocating from the NANA Development [Corporation], from NovaCopper, and from the different boroughs, we looked at it, analyzed it, assessed it, in terms of whether it could potentially repay funds back to the state. And we decided that we would draw the line at the feasibility and scoping part of the EIS,” Davis said.

But while support from the road has been strong from mining companies, like Canadian mining concern NovaCopper, and the NANA Development Corp. says it supports the EIS process, the response at dozens of meetings with tribes and others living and working along the road’s proposed corridor have been more mixed.

One major sticking point: the cost. AIDEA’s own estimates range up to $300 million. Project contractor Dowl HKM has said that could climb as high as $400 million. Critics of the road have said it could cost millions more. AIDEA plans to pay for it through bonding and tolls, and not public money. Davis points to the road AIDEA built for the Red Dog Mine as a model for how the Ambler Road could play out.

“The cost [for the Delong Mountain Transportation System] was $267 million, roughly, and what we have received from tolls on that road so far has been $401 million,” Davis. “So we’ve already made $143 million on that and stand to make more over time.”

But the road’s ultimate route and final cost are all estimates at this point. AIDEA spokesperson Karsten Rodvik said money for the EIS preserves the work that’s already been done in the last six years, and will launch the necessary next step: a complex federal review process.

“We expect within the next few weeks to file the formal EIS permit application,” Rodvik said Friday. “At that point it goes into federal hands. And the scoping process is expected to take anywhere from 12 to 18 months.”

That process means getting hands-on with federal agencies like the National Park Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, as well as tribes and corporations who live and own land along the proposed route.

]]>19210Researchers Seek Funding for Buoy Providing Vital Wave Data in the Bering Seahttp://www.knom.org/wp/blog/2014/09/01/researchers-seek-funding-for-buoy-providing-vital-wave-data-in-the-bering-sea/
Tue, 02 Sep 2014 01:41:56 +0000http://www.knom.org/wp/?p=11614A buoy afloat in the Bering Sea near King Island gathers wave readings that are live-streamed for local users, but with funding set to expire at the end of this season, the buoy needs a home and money to keep it operating. ]]>http://www.knom.org/wp-audio/2014/09/2014-09-01-Bering-Sea-Buoy.mp3

There’s a buoy afloat in the Bering Sea, about 30 miles west of King Island. Every hour, it gathers temperature and wave height information that is live-streamed for local users. But funding from Western Alaska LLC is set to expire at the end of this season, which means the buoy is in need of a home and money to keep it operating.

David Atkinson, with the University of Victoria in British Columbia, initially deployed the buoy in 2011 for a year-long project for the Environmental Protection Agency. It’s actually the only buoy streaming wave information from the Bering Strait, and that data is in high-demand to make maritime operations safer. Atkinson secured funding from Western AK LLC to keep the buoy running until 2014, but now he needs to look for other sources.

“It can probably be deployed for about $10,000 per year—per season,” said Atkinson. “So if the buoy is to go out again in future years, that amount of money needs to be gather up in some way, shape, or form.”

One way Atkinson thinks funding could be acquired is through a buy-in with local users of the buoy’s information. He said the National Weather Service, NOAA, Red Dog Mine, NSEDC and others in Nome and surrounding villages have all utilized the live-streaming website.

There were over 700 hits during the first year. “Which isn’t bad considering the small user group that really cares about it,” said Atkinson. “And the hits rise and fall—whenever there’s a storm coming the number of hits soared.”

According to one comment from Norton Sound Seafood Projects’s operations manager, “This information will impact crab and halibut fishermen as well as subsistence users… Planning has greatly improved and the trips are much safer.”

Ellen Tyler with the Alaska Ocean Observing System has been working with Atkinson to keep the buoy running. She said she’s coming to Nome in early October to hear from people interested in becoming partial owners of the buoy. Those who assist with funding can have a voice in where it’s deployed each season.

Tyler said that kind of flexibility is not unusual, since there’s such a dearth of data collection on the Bering Sea.

“You know there’s just no other wave buoys that are out in the middle of the ocean like this,” said Tyler. “And so from the researcher’s perspective, there’s no data, so anywhere you put it would be new information!”

Atkinson and Tyler certainly have to be flexible with this buoy because they rely on boaters who, as a favor, deploy the buoy in the spring and retrieve it before the ice sets in mid-fall. It’s a challenging venture in storm season, and last year, Atkinson said four ships passed the buoy before one was able to bring it back.

The researchers are hopeful vessels will continue assisting in the deployment process. They’re also looking for an open shed or other shelter to store the 6-foot-tall structure for future winter hibernations.

]]>11614Red Dog Mine Operators Opt for $8M Fine in Wastewater Suithttp://www.knom.org/wp/blog/2014/06/06/red-dog-mine-operators-opt-for-8m-fine-in-wastewater-suit/
Fri, 06 Jun 2014 15:00:16 +0000http://www.knom.org/wp/?p=9572Teck Resources, the Canadian firm that operates the Red Dog Mine in northwest Alaska, won’t build a pipeline to carry wastewater away from the mine, opting instead to absorb an $8 million fine laid out in a 2008 lawsuit settlement.]]>http://www.knom.org/wp-audio/2014/06/2014-06-05-Red-Dog-Mine-Water-Pipeline-PKG.mp3

The Canadian company that operates the Red Dog Mine in northwest Alaska says it won’t build a pipeline to carry wastewater away from the mine site to the Chukchi Sea, opting instead to absorb an $8 million fine laid out in a 2008 lawsuit settlement.

The settlement came after five residents from the village of Kivalina, about 70 miles northwest of the mine, filed a lawsuit against Teck Resources, which operates the mine. The suit alleged Clean Water Act violations and other concerns about water discharge from the mine, which was being treated and emptied into the Red Dog Creek. That creek empties into the Wulik River, the source of Kivalina’s drinking water.

At the time of the settlement, Teck agreed to explore building a 52-mile pipeline to bring the mine’s treated wastewater to the Chukchi Sea. On Thursday, Red Dog Mine’s manager for community relations Wayne Hall said the company is officially passing on the prospect.

“Today, Teck informed the U.S. District Court for Alaska that following extensive environmental and technical studies, the company has determined that a treated water pipeline is not a viable option and therefore will not be built,” he said.

Hall said Teck spent $1.7 million studying whether or not the pipeline could be built. The firm decided it can indeed be done—not below ground, as that idea proved too hazardous due to shifting permafrost and potential pipeline damage—but instead, above ground. Despite the technical feasibility of the above-ground pipeline, Hall said it won’t be built because it would have “no demonstrable environmental impact.” Ultimately, Hall said it could do more harm than good.

“An above ground pipeline would have numerous technical challenges, such as risks to caribou migrations and other impacts to the tundra and so forth,” he said, in addition to long-term impacts through maintenance and construction.

It would also be expensive, as much as $261 million. Hall said the price tag is well beyond the threshold for acceptable costs, as per the 2008 settlement. It will be up for the court to decide if Teck’s cost estimates are reasonable.

With no pipeline, Teck will have to take the $8 million civil penalty laid out in the suit. That means the Red Dog Mine will continue to empty treated wastewater into the Red Dog Creek, which will continue to empty into the Wulik River, and continue to be used by people in Kivalina.

Millie Hawley is the tribal IRA president in Kivalina. She said the community of about 400 people had just learned about Teck’s filing Thursday. After years of legal struggle, she said residents were not happy.

“I’m disappointed,” Hawley sighed. “I’m still concerned about the drinking water source. Wulik River, it’s been our source of water and fish, and I’m still concerned about the discharge that’s coming out of the Red Dog Mine.”

Hawley said she and others in Kivalina are asking Teck for a face-to-face meeting with representatives from the mine to explain their decision about the pipeline.

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9572‘Second Shake’ Rattles Noatak, Northwest Brooks Rangehttp://www.knom.org/wp/blog/2014/05/05/second-shake-rattles-noatak-northwest-brooks-range/
http://www.knom.org/wp/blog/2014/05/05/second-shake-rattles-noatak-northwest-brooks-range/#commentsMon, 05 May 2014 19:33:56 +0000http://www.knom.org/wp/?p=8779Two weeks after the strongest earthquake in the region in 30 years, Noatak residents were rocked by a series of powerful quakes and aftershocks Saturday.]]>http://www.knom.org/wp-audio/2014/05/2014-05-04-Noatak-Quakes-II.mp3

Just two weeks after being rocked by the strongest earthquake in the region in over 30 years, residents of Noatak and others near the far western edge of the Brooks Range were again rocked by a series of powerful quakes and aftershocks over the weekend.

Mike West is a state seismologist and director of the Alaska Earthquake Center in Fairbanks. He says the 5.5 magnitude quake that struck at 12:57 a.m. Saturday May 3 came nearly two weeks to the day after an even stronger 5.6 quake on April 18.

“There were quite a number of earthquakes all through Saturday that were part of this aftershock sequence of this second earthquake,” West said.

Saturday’s quake was just that: an earthquake, not an aftershock from the April temblor.

“That’s a little weird for us because it doesn’t fit the aftershock paradigm,” West said. “It’s as large as the original earthquake … and was followed by its own series of aftershocks.”

Those aftershocks were similarly strong, with seven rated a magnitude four or stronger. West said the two strong quakes, both followed by powerful aftershocks, are likely caused by the same geological forces.

“It’s important to think of this as a sequence,” West emphasized. “Stress was building up through the normal movement of plate tectonics, and that needed to be relieved. The earthquake on April 18th, (Saturday)’s earthquake, all the aftershocks from both of those, are all sort of part of this process.”

Like April’s quake, the Saturday event was felt about 20 miles to the south in Noatak, at the giant Red Dog zinc mine, and even in Kotzebue. Despite the power of the “second shake,” West said there’s no danger beyond frayed nerves on the horizon. Nonetheless, he said the Earthquake Center is visiting Noatak and Kotzebue this week to install seismology equipment for better observation of the activity.

“We have plans right now to install probably two seismic stations in and around the source of the earthquake,” West said Sunday. “This is driven not so much by a concern of things to come, but we just want to be prepared, and frankly, better understand why these earthquakes occurred in the first place.”

The last time the region saw seismic activity on par with these two most recent quakes was back in 1981, when West said a 5.5 quake struck in roughly the same area about the same distance from Noatak.